Description

Hippolyte J Blanc, completed by George MacLaren, dated 1886; billiard room wing by William Gauldie and Robert Hardie, 1920. 2-storey and high attic, irregular-plan, large French Renaissance-style villa. Snecked and bull-faced rubble Dumfries sandstone, polished dressings, some harl, green slate roof. Windows mainly ashlar transom and mullion, some canted; chamfered reveals, moulded at S and W elevations; sash and case frames with plate glass at bottom and multi-pane at top. Cill courses at S elevation; wallhead course; elongated, shouldered wallhead stacks with moulded copes; cast-iron rainwater goods with decorative brackets and hoppers. Pyramidal, apsidal and piended, steeply pitched multi-form roof with lead flashings; lucarnes, brattishing and weathervane at highest point.

S ELEVATION: door at centre with fanlight and moulded, pilastered and pedimented doorpiece with Ionic capitals, flanked by bipartite windows; single window above at left, bipartite at right with mannered segmental pediment and name and date stone 'Red Court 1886'. 2-storey, 6-light canted window breaking through wallhead at projecting bay at far right. 2-storey, 8-light canted angle window at far left,l set-back tripartite canted window with pedimented lintels at attic; tripartite Dutch-gabled dormerhead adjoining at right.

W ELEVATION: recessed bay at right; bipartite window at centre, single at left, 4-light canted window with parapet at right, 3 windows at 1st floor, further bowed window at right re-entrant, massive wallhead stack at centre, pedimented Venetian dormer at right. Advanced gable at far right; canted angle window as S elevation, massive corbelled wallhead stack at left. Single storey and attic billiard room wing advanced at far left; door at right re-entrant with storm porch, tripartite canted window with parapet, flat roof dormer at pyramidal roof with swept eaves clasping main house at right.

E ELEVATION: advanced piended-roof bay at centre with 2 windows at ground floor, bipartite at 1st. Recessed bay at left; windows at ground and 1st floor right, corbelled wallhead stack with pedimented detail. Recessed bay at right; tripartite window with relieving arch, window and service hatch at right, 2 windows at 1st floor, wallhead stack.

N ELEVATION: 2 projecting piended-roof wings with single and 2-storey sections linking; harled billiard room wing at right with 3 windows, single storey projection at left.

INTERIOR: in original condition throughout, including all chimneypieces and msot kitchen and bathroom ceramics. The following are of particular interest: stirrup pump type WS in outer hall; panelled outer and inner halls; imperial staircase with turned balusters and carved newel posts, tripartite Pre-Rephaelite stained glass stair window; fruit and foliate frieze of various colours in drawing room; Art Nouveau fieze in dining room; suite including gun room, cloakroom and panelled billiard room with original sanctuary lamp-type light fittings; boarded napery and ironing room on 1st floor; hand-painted Kate Greenaway-type designs on chimneypiece tiles in day and night nurseries; attic suite including boarded dark room, bathroom and original panelled billiard room; speaking tube system.

SUNDIAL: oriental design blue and white ceramic sundial on hexagonal ashlar plinth.

LAMP STANDARD: cast-iron lamp standard with foliate decoration, fluted shaft and Corinthian capital.

GATEPIERS, BOUNDARY AND GARDEN WALLS: 2 mannered painted gatepiers at S, square chamfered to octagonal with moulded caps; further plain gatepiers to pedestrian gate. 2 chamfered ashlar gatepiers with pyramidal caps at N (coach house) entrance. Rubble boundary walls with rounded coping at N, S and E; brick boundary wall at W and at kitchen garden.

Statement of Interest

Red Court was built by William Gordon Thomson of Fairfield, Fairfield Road (listed separately - see LB23956), for his son Alexander Gordon Thomson, both of Thomson Engineers and Iron Founders, Douglas Foundry, Dundee and of the Clepington Spinning Co. Thomson senior hailed from Ayrshire which perhaps explains the use of Dumfries stone. The billiard room extension was commissioned by Ernest Grant. The house and garden, together with its separately listed lodge, coach house and laundry is probably the finest manufacturer's villa in eastern Dundee remaining in original condition and in the ownership and occupation of the family who commissioned it (1989). A Group with Lodge (LB25939), Coach House (LB25936) and Laundry (LB25941).

External Links

• Historic Environment Scotland Listing
• Wikidata Q17575970

External links are from the relevant listing authority and, where applicable, Wikidata. Wikidata IDs may be related buildings as well as this specific building. If you want to add or update a link, you will need to do so by editing the Wikidata entry.

Recommended Books

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  Renovating Old Houses: Bringing New Life to Vintage Homes (For Pros By Pros)
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  A Buying and Owning a Listed Building: A Brief Guide
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  Oxfordshire: North and West (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Oxfordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Staffordshire (Pevsner Architectural Guides: Buildings of England)
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  Old House Care and Repair